Sounds like y'all are making the best of the situation. The best games come about from a) desperation and b) imagination. I played White Wolf a long time ago, have been looking to get into it again. Maybe I can fly over...

Anyway, Iowa is pretty good for gaming, besides being a state comprised almost totally of corn, soybeans, and pigs. Lots of gamers, because gaming is a cheap and readily-available hobby that compensates for our lack of good museums, beaches, etc.

I've been blessed with very solid gaming groups and awesome GMs/DMs, so I count myself very lucky. On top of individual groups, we also have small conventions (one is coming up this weekend!) and last year my friends and I attended GenCon, which we'll be doing this year as well! It's a blast.

E-mail me if you want to keep in touch, I'm always good for swapping story/game ideas, or just nerd talk in general. beau.pinkham@gmail.com

Hope to hear from you!

It's lousy, to be honest. To label us as a market would be presumptuous, and thank means we don't get much stuff, or get it too late. So it's Amazon or e-Bay or a specialized webshop most of the time... since we really lack a good gaming shop. There's literally no chance of a RPG convention happening, though there's some activity in the LARP community (life-sustaining efforts, unfortunately.)

So I'd say RPG population here is really a small minority, but heartily devoted to hosting and playing good games. If one finds a way in, (s)he in for some good time. Despite all of this, people tend to stick together and there are games to be found, gamers in my midst (late twenties - early thirties) preferring White Wolf and GURPS systems to D&D. There's a surprising number of GM's who've invented their own systems.

I can only imagine how all of this differs from your experience... or, does it? I'd like to hear from you. =)

Heh, I know what you mean. Watching people come and go, meet up and part, it was a very calming and contemplative time. Of course, the trains being late all the time gave me a lot of time to "meditate."

What's the gaming situation like in Croatia? I made a friend on a ride through Macedonia who gets some gaming done in Skopje, but she said that RPGs aren't all that popular in south-central Europe.

Thanks for the welcome! I remember some towns and cities from the similar angle, i.e. studying all the busy people going somewhere while I'm waiting for my bus/train to arrive... a wakeful meditation of sorts